Free Oregon Residential Lease Agreement

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A configurable Oregon residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to current Oregon law — the statewide rent cap and the way the maximum is actually set each September, the just-cause rule that arrives after the first year, and the three 2026 acts that are in force but not yet in the printed code.

Oregon ORS Chapter 90 Rent Cap + Just Cause Free PDF 2026 Edition

An Oregon residential lease agreement is the written contract between a landlord and a residential tenant, governed by the Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act at ORS chapter 90, with the eviction procedure at ORS 105.100 to 105.168. Oregon is not an ordinary uniform-act state. It was the first state in the country to adopt statewide rent stabilisation and a statewide just-cause requirement, and it has amended chapter 90 in every session since. Two consequences follow for anyone drafting a lease here. First, the rent cap is not a number in the statute: ORS 90.324 sets a formula and tells the Oregon Department of Administrative Services to publish the maximum for the following year by September 30 each year — so a lease or a template that prints a percentage is wrong within twelve months. Second, the printed code is behind: oregonlegislature.gov serves chapter 90 as the 2025 Edition under a banner saying the 2026 session amended it, and three 2026 acts took effect on June 5, 2026 that appear in no codified section text yet. This page is built from the session laws as well as the code.

Complete the fields below to generate an Oregon residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document — the utility allocations, the late-charge form, the just-cause branches, the nonpayment notice track and each disclosure you check — and the generated lease cites the controlling ORS section at each point. Before handing over keys, run proper tenant screening, remembering that Oregon regulates the screening stage heavily under ORS 90.295, ORS 90.303 and ORS 90.304. Pair the signed lease with an Oregon move-in / move-out checklist — Oregon has no statutory condition inspection, which is exactly why a private record matters here.

Oregon recognises three tenancy shapes and defines each in ORS 90.100. A fixed term tenancy runs to a specific ending date and terminates on that date without further notice. A month-to-month tenancy renews automatically on the same terms until one or both parties end it. A week-to-week tenancy is narrower than most people assume: it exists only where occupancy is charged weekly and payable no less frequently than every seven days, there is a written rental agreement defining both parties’ rights, and there are no fees or security deposits at all, though an applicant screening charge is still allowed. If a rental agreement creates neither a week-to-week nor a fixed term tenancy, ORS 90.220(7)(b) makes it month-to-month by default.

Several arrangements sit outside this form. A manufactured dwelling or floating home space in a facility runs under ORS 90.505 to 90.850, with its own rent-increase figures and its own termination code at ORS 90.630; a recreational vehicle in a park needs the specific written agreement ORS 90.230 prescribes; vacation occupancy and transient occupancy are excluded from the Act altogether by the definitions in ORS 90.100; and a commercial lease is not governed by chapter 90 at all.

One drafting point Oregon makes unusually sharp. Chapter 90 does not require most residential tenancies to be in writing — but a great many of its duties are expressed as things a written rental agreement must contain or may permit. A security deposit must be listed in the written agreement (ORS 90.300(3)). A fee must be described in the written agreement (ORS 90.302(1)). A late charge is available only if the written agreement specifies the type, the amount and the dates (ORS 90.260(1)). A utility charge may be billed only because the written agreement so provides (ORS 90.315(4)(a)). Carpet cleaning may be deducted from a deposit only if the written agreement says so (ORS 90.300(7)(c)(A)). Mail-and-attachment service of notices is available only if the written agreement provides for it in both directions (ORS 90.155(1)(c)). An unwritten Oregon tenancy is not unlawful; it is simply one in which the landlord has forfeited most of the tools.

No more than the maximum annual rent increase percentage published for that calendar year by the Oregon Department of Administrative Services. That sentence, and not a percentage, is the correct answer — and it is the single biggest thing the ranking template pages get wrong.

ORS 90.324(1) sets the mechanism. No later than September 30 of each year the department must calculate the maximum annual rent increase percentage allowed for the following calendar year. For tenancies subject to ORS 90.600(1) in facilities with more than thirty spaces the figure is fixed at six percent. For everything else — including every ordinary tenancy governed by ORS 90.323 — the maximum is the lesser of ten percent, or seven percent plus CPI. “CPI” is defined in ORS 90.324(4) as the September annual twelve-month average change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, West Region (All Items), as most recently published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Two duties follow. ORS 90.324(2) requires the department to publish the percentages, along with the text of ORS 90.323 and ORS 90.600, in a press release by the same date. ORS 90.324(3) requires it to keep the previous year’s, the current year’s and (from September 30) the following year’s figures on its website. So there is always an authoritative published number, and it is never in the lease.

The practical point is the one every template misses. Because seven percent plus CPI has run above ten percent in recent years, the ten percent ceiling is the term that has actually bound. The department published ten percent for 2025 and nine and one-half percent for 2026. A page that says “Oregon caps increases at seven percent plus inflation” is describing a rule that has not been the operative limit. Read the published figure for the year in which the increase takes effect, at the Department of Administrative Services rent stabilisation page, and see our Oregon rent increase laws guide.

The formula itself changed recently, which is another reason old copy is unreliable. The current wording of ORS 90.324 comes from 2023 Oregon Laws chapter 226, which replaced the earlier seven-percent-plus-CPI-with-no-ceiling rule with the lesser-of test, and from 2025 Oregon Laws chapter 387, which carved out the separate six percent figure for larger manufactured dwelling and marina facilities.

Not in the first year, not more than once in twelve months, and after the first year only on at least ninety days’ written notice. ORS 90.323(2) stacks four separate limits on a tenancy other than week-to-week: no increase during the first year after the tenancy begins; no increase after the first year without written notice at least ninety days before the effective date; no more than one increase in any twelve-month period; and no increase by a percentage greater than the ORS 90.324(1) maximum. A week-to-week tenancy takes at least seven days‘ written notice under ORS 90.323(1) and is outside the percentage cap.

What the notice must say (ORS 90.323(3)): the amount of the rent increase, the amount of the new rent, the date on which the increase becomes effective, and — where the increase relies on an exemption — the facts supporting it. Serve it with an Oregon rent increase notice, and remember that service by first class mail adds three days under ORS 90.155(2).

The two exemptions (ORS 90.323(5)) remove only the percentage cap, never the first-year freeze, the once-a-year limit or the notice period. They are: the first certificate of occupancy for the dwelling unit was issued less than fifteen years before the date of the increase notice; or the unit is regulated or certified as affordable housing by a federal, state or local government and the change in rent does not increase the tenant’s own portion of the rent, or is required by program eligibility requirements or by a change in the tenant’s income.

What it costs to get wrong (ORS 90.323(6)): a landlord who increases rent in violation of the percentage cap is liable to the tenant for three months’ rent plus actual damages. There is a matching anti-avoidance rule in ORS 90.323(4): a landlord who ends a first-year tenancy on a thirty-day no-cause notice under ORS 90.427(3) or (4) may not charge the next tenancy more than the terminated tenancy could lawfully have been charged.

Yes — after the first year of occupancy. This is the second half of Oregon’s 2019 reform and the rankers describe Oregon as a thirty-day-notice state, which is only true for the first year.

The definition does the work. ORS 90.427(1)(a) provides that “first year of occupancy” includes all periods in which any of the tenants has resided in the dwelling unit for one year or less. Signing a sitting tenant to a new fixed term does not restart the clock, and adding a new co-tenant does not extend it.

During the first year a landlord may end a month-to-month tenancy on at least thirty days‘ written notice with no reason stated (ORS 90.427(3)(b)), and may end a fixed term whose specified ending date falls inside the first year on at least thirty days’ notice, or thirty days before the designated termination date, whichever is later (ORS 90.427(4)(b)). Use an Oregon notice of non-renewal where the tenancy is genuinely first-year.

After the first year the landlord may terminate only for a tenant cause under one of the named sections — ORS 86.782(6)(c), 90.380(5), 90.392, 90.394, 90.396, 90.398, 90.405, 90.440 or 90.445 — or for a qualifying landlord reason with the notice ORS 90.427(5) and (6) describe. A fixed term whose ending date falls after the first year becomes a month-to-month tenancy on expiry unless the parties agree a new fixed term, the tenant gives thirty days’ notice, or the landlord has a qualifying reason (ORS 90.427(4)(c)).

A tenant may end a month-to-month tenancy at any time on not less than thirty days’ written notice, and either party may end a week-to-week tenancy on at least ten days‘ notice. See Oregon lease termination laws and, for the tenant’s routes out, Oregon breaking-lease laws.

Four reasons, ninety days’ notice, and one month’s rent paid to the tenant — unless the landlord owns four or fewer units. The four reasons in ORS 90.427(5)(a) are:

• The landlord intends to demolish the dwelling unit or convert it to a use other than residential use within a reasonable time.
• The landlord intends to undertake repairs or renovations within a reasonable time and the premises is unsafe or unfit for occupancy, or will be during the work.
• The landlord, or a member of the landlord’s immediate family, intends to occupy the dwelling unit as a primary residence, and the landlord does not own a comparable unit in the same building available for occupancy at the same time the tenant receives the notice.
• The landlord has accepted an offer to purchase from a person who in good faith intends to occupy the unit as that person’s primary residence, and has provided written evidence of the offer with the notice.

“Immediate family” is defined in ORS 90.427(1)(b) and reaches an adult relative by blood, adoption, marriage or domestic partnership; an unmarried parent of a joint child; a child, grandchild, foster child, ward or guardian; and the child, grandchild, foster child, ward or guardian of any of those.

The sixty-day alternative. The purchase ground alone may be run on not less than sixty days‘ notice under ORS 90.427(5)(b), but only if the landlord provides the written evidence of the offer and, at the time of giving the notice, pays the tenant an amount equal to one month’s periodic rent in addition to any relocation payment otherwise due.

The relocation payment, and the exemption that decides everything. ORS 90.427(6)(a) requires a landlord terminating under subsection (5) to specify the reason and the supporting facts in the notice, and to pay the tenant an amount equal to one month’s periodic rent at the time the landlord delivers the notice. ORS 90.427(6)(b) then removes that payment obligation entirely for a landlord who has an ownership interest in four or fewer residential dwelling units subject to chapter 90. This four-unit line is the single most consequential branch in Oregon residential practice, and not one ranking page carries it — which is why the form above asks for the portfolio size and writes the answer into the lease.

The tenant’s answering notice — new for fixed terms entered on or after January 1, 2026. Chapter 115, Oregon Laws 2025 (House Bill 2134) added a new section to ORS 90.100 to 90.465 and took effect on January 1, 2026. The section carries no ORS number of its own, which is why it appears in no codified chapter 90 page and in no ranking template. The trigger is narrow. It applies only where, during a fixed term tenancy, the landlord gives a notice under ORS 90.427(5) — a qualifying-landlord-reason notice — terminating the rental agreement on or after the expiration of the fixed term. No other termination notice sets it off. Where it does apply, the tenant may give the tenant’s own written notice terminating the rental agreement on a date designated in that notice which is at least thirty days following the date the notice is delivered to the landlord, and that date may end the tenancy during the fixed term. If the tenant terminates this way, the landlord may not collect any fee under ORS 90.302(2)(e) — the fee for abandoning or relinquishing a dwelling unit during a fixed term without cause, the one Oregon caps at one and one-half times the monthly rent — and may not collect any unpaid rent that would otherwise have accrued after the date designated in the tenant’s notice and after the tenant returns possession of the premises, so the rent stops at the later of those two events. The scope limiter is the part a lease must not lose: section 3 of the act applies it only to fixed term rental agreements entered into on or after January 1, 2026. It is not retroactive, and a fixed term signed before that date carries no such right.

A fifth route that is not a “qualifying reason”. ORS 90.427(7) lets a fixed term end without rolling into a month-to-month tenancy where the landlord gives at least ninety days’ notice before the specified ending date and the tenant has committed three or more violations within the preceding twelve months, each of which drew a written warning notice at the time. The warning notices are prescribed: each must specify the violation, state that the landlord may terminate at the end of the fixed term if there are three violations in a twelve-month period, and state that correcting the third or subsequent violation is not a defence. The ninety-day notice must state the reason and supporting facts and be delivered with or after the third warning.

The owner-occupied duplex track. ORS 90.427(8) carves out a dwelling unit located in the same building or on the same property as the landlord’s primary residence where the building or property contains not more than two dwelling units. There, after the first year of occupancy, the landlord may terminate a month-to-month tenancy for cause, or without cause on at least sixty days’ notice, or on thirty days’ notice where the landlord has accepted an offer to purchase from a good-faith owner-occupier and serves written evidence with it; and may end a fixed term without cause on thirty days’ notice before the specified ending date.

The penalty. A landlord who terminates in violation of ORS 90.427(5), (6) or (7) is liable to the tenant for three months’ rent in addition to actual damages, and the tenant has a defence to an action for possession (ORS 90.427(9)(a)). The tenant must bring the claim within one year of knowing or having reason to know of the violation.

Holding over. If the tenant stays without consent after expiry or termination, ORS 90.427(11) lets the landlord bring an action for possession and recover actual damages, including the value of rent accruing until the landlord knows or should know possession has been relinquished. Oregon sets no multiple-of-rent holdover penalty. See Oregon eviction notice laws.

There is no statutory maximum in Oregon. ORS 90.300 sets no ceiling on the amount. What it regulates — tightly — is timing, labelling and treatment, and each of those rules is more useful than a cap would be.

It must be listed and receipted. A written rental agreement must list a security deposit paid by a tenant or required by a landlord (ORS 90.300(3)), and the landlord must provide a receipt for any security deposit the tenant pays (ORS 90.300(2)(a)). The landlord holds it for the tenant, and the tenant’s claim to it ranks ahead of the landlord’s creditors, including a trustee in bankruptcy.

You cannot raise it in the first year. Under ORS 90.300(5)(a) a landlord may not change the rental agreement to require a new or increased security deposit during the first year after the tenancy has begun — with a narrow exception where the parties agree to modify the terms to permit a pet or for other cause and the additional deposit relates to that modification. If a new or increased deposit is required after the first year, ORS 90.300(5)(b) requires the landlord to allow the tenant at least three months to pay it.

No pet deposit for an assistance animal. ORS 90.300(4) forbids a pet security deposit for keeping a service animal or companion animal that a tenant with a disability requires as a reasonable accommodation under fair housing laws. See Oregon pet and assistance animal laws.

A last month’s rent deposit is a security deposit. ORS 90.300(1) says so expressly, and ORS 90.300(9) then requires the landlord to apply it to the rent due for the last month of the tenancy once either party gives a termination notice under the chapter other than a nonpayment notice under ORS 90.394, once the parties agree to terminate, or once a term tenancy ends by its own terms. Anything not so applied is accounted for and refunded like any other deposit. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the tenant cannot force the landlord to apply it to any other month.

No minimum-stay forfeiture. ORS 90.300(8) forbids a landlord to require a tenant to pay or forfeit a deposit or prepaid rent for failing to maintain a month-to-month tenancy for a minimum number of months.

Our Oregon security deposit laws guide tracks the section as it changes.

Thirty-one days — and it is two separate duties on the same clock. This is where Oregon coverage is usually half-right: pages state the deadline and skip the fact that the accounting and the refund are distinct obligations, either of which can be breached on its own.

The accounting (ORS 90.300(12)). To claim all or part of any prepaid rent or security deposit, the landlord must, within thirty-one days after the tenancy terminates and the tenant delivers possession, give the tenant a written accounting that states specifically the basis or bases of the claim — with a separate accounting for security deposits and for prepaid rent. Build it with our Oregon security deposit itemization form.

The refund (ORS 90.300(13)). The landlord must return whatever is not claimed in that manner not later than the same thirty-one days. An electronic refund to a bank account the tenant designates is permitted only where both parties agreed to it in an addendum executed after the tenancy began and the tenant occupied the premises. A covering Oregon security deposit return letter keeps the two duties visibly separate.

Delivery (ORS 90.300(14)). The accounting and the refund must go by personal delivery or by first class mail, or by electronic mail only if the parties executed the e-mail addendum ORS 90.155(1)(d) requires.

What may be deducted (ORS 90.300(6) and (7)). Only the amount reasonably necessary to remedy the tenant’s defaults, including unpaid rent, and to repair damage the tenant caused — not including ordinary wear and tear. The landlord need not actually carry out the repair in order to claim its cost, but any labour charge must be based on a reasonable hourly rate, and the landlord may charge a reasonable hourly rate for the landlord’s own work.

The carpet-cleaning rule that catches everyone. Under ORS 90.300(7)(c)(A) carpet cleaning beyond an ordinary vacuum is deductible only where all three conditions are met: the cleaning is performed by a machine specifically designed for cleaning or shampooing carpets; the carpet was cleaned or replaced after the previous tenancy or the most recent significant use and before this tenant took possession; and the written rental agreement provides that the landlord may deduct the cost regardless of whether the tenant cleans the carpet before delivering possession. Miss the lease clause and the deduction is gone.

Double damages (ORS 90.300(16)). If the landlord fails to comply with the return duty, or in bad faith fails to return all or part of any prepaid rent or security deposit, the tenant may recover twice the amount withheld without a written accounting, or withheld in bad faith. A deposit in the landlord’s possession is also not garnishable property under ORS 90.300(17).

And what Oregon does not have. There is no Oregon move-in or move-out condition inspection, checklist or joint walk-through statute, and no deposit-interest duty. Several state guides imply one exists. A dated condition record is still how the “ordinary wear and tear” line is proved, but in Oregon it is a term of the lease, not a legal duty.

Only the ones ORS 90.302 allows, and only if they are described in the written rental agreement. Oregon has one of the most detailed fee statutes in the country and not one of the eight pages currently ranking for this query cites it. It is the strongest single differentiator on this page.

The rule of admission (ORS 90.302(1)). A landlord may not charge a fee at the beginning of the tenancy for an anticipated landlord expense, and may not require the payment of any fee except as the section provides. A fee must be described in a written rental agreement. A fee left out of the lease simply is not chargeable.

The five per-occurrence fees (ORS 90.302(2)). A late rent payment under ORS 90.260. A dishonored check under ORS 30.701(5) — which caps the fee at the ORS 30.701(5) amount, currently thirty-five dollars, plus any amount the bank has charged the landlord to process it, a nuance the rankers drop. Removal of or tampering with a properly functioning smoke alarm, smoke detector or carbon monoxide alarm under ORS 90.325(2), up to two hundred fifty dollars, unless the State Fire Marshal assesses a civil penalty for the same conduct. Violation of a written pet agreement or of a facility pet rule under ORS 90.530. And abandonment or relinquishment of a dwelling unit during a fixed term without cause, capped at one and one-half times the monthly rent.

That last fee carries three conditions worth knowing. It may not be assessed at all where the tenant left under ORS 90.453(2), ORS 90.472 or ORS 90.475. And if the landlord does charge it, the landlord may not also recover unpaid rent for any part of the fixed term beyond the date the landlord knew or should have known of the abandonment, may not recover the cost of re-renting, and loses the benefit of the mitigation rule in ORS 90.410(3). It is a choice, not an addition.

The second-noncompliance scheme (ORS 90.302(3)). A rules-violation fee is available only for a second or subsequent noncompliance occurring within one year after a written warning notice that described the specific noncompliance and stated the amount of the fee; only where the written rules describe the prohibited conduct and the fee; and only if the warning or the fee is given within thirty days after the act. It may not exceed fifty dollars for a second occurrence within a year, or fifty dollars plus five percent of the current period’s rent for a third or later one. Only eight kinds of noncompliance qualify: late payment of a utility or service charge under ORS 90.315; failure to clean up pet waste, service or companion animal waste, or garbage from a part of the premises other than the dwelling unit; parking violations; improper use of vehicles within the premises; smoking in a clearly designated nonsmoking unit or area; and keeping an unauthorized pet capable of causing damage. The last two carry a ceiling of two hundred fifty dollars and a wait of twenty-four hours and forty-eight hours respectively after the required warning notice.

Two structural limits sit inside that scheme. The landlord may terminate for a noncompliance or charge a fee for it, never both, and may not deduct the fee from a rent payment for the current or a later rental period.

No liquidated damages, and what a wrongful fee costs. ORS 90.302(5) forbids any form of liquidated damages, however designated, apart from the fixed-term abandonment fee — and ORS 90.245(1)(d) makes a liquidated-damages clause a prohibited lease provision as well. Nonpayment of a fee is not grounds for a nonpayment eviction under ORS 90.394, though it is grounds for a for-cause termination under ORS 90.392 (ORS 90.302(6)). And under ORS 90.302(8), a landlord who charges a fee in violation of the section owes the tenant twice the tenant’s actual damages or three hundred dollars, whichever is greater.

The order in which payments are applied. ORS 90.220(9)(a) fixes it notwithstanding any contrary provision in the lease: outstanding rent from prior rental periods, then rent for the current period, then utility or service charges, then late rent payment charges, and only then fees under ORS 90.302 or charges relating to damage claims. A clause directing payments to fees first is ineffective — and it matters, because applying a payment to a fee instead of to rent is exactly what manufactures a nonpayment case.

The 2026 change no code page shows yet. Section 5 of chapter 23, Oregon Laws 2026, rewrote ORS 90.302(7)(d) with effect from June 5, 2026. The old paragraph let a landlord pass through a credit-card processing fee where the card company allowed it and the landlord took cash or cheque. The new paragraph covers a payment made by credit or debit card, or through a tenant portal or other electronic means, and permits the pass-through only where the payment processing company allows fees to be passed to the payor, the landlord allows non-electronic payment as section 3 of the same act requires, and records of the fees charged to the landlord and passed on are made available to the tenant on written request within a reasonable time.

Nothing before the fourth day of the rental period, and then only in one of three prescribed forms. ORS 90.260(1) allows a late charge only if the rent payment is not received by the fourth day of the weekly or monthly rental period, and a written rental agreement specifies the tenant’s obligation to pay it, the type and amount, and the date on which rent is due and the date on which late charges become due.

The three permitted forms (ORS 90.260(2)) are exhaustive:

• A reasonable flat amount charged once per rental period. “Reasonable amount” is defined by the statute as the customary amount charged by landlords for that rental market — a market test, not a percentage.
• A reasonable amount charged on a per-day basis, beginning on the fifth day of the rental period for which rent is delinquent and accruing through that rental period only. The per-day charge may not exceed six percent of the flat amount described above.
• Five percent of the periodic rent payment, charged once for each succeeding five-day period or part of one, beginning on the fifth day and accumulating through that rental period only.

The widely repeated claim that “Oregon caps late fees at five percent” is therefore wrong twice over: five percent is one of three options, and under option (c) it accumulates every five days rather than acting as a ceiling on the total.

Four further limits. In a periodic tenancy the landlord may change the type or amount only on thirty days’ written notice (ORS 90.260(3)). The landlord may not deduct a previously imposed late charge from a current or later rent payment so as to make that payment delinquent (ORS 90.260(4)) — the same trap ORS 90.220(9) closes from the other side. Simple interest may be charged on an unpaid late charge at the ORS 82.010(2) judgment rate (ORS 90.260(5)). And nonpayment of a late charge alone is not grounds for a nonpayment termination under ORS 90.394, though it is grounds for a for-cause termination under ORS 90.392 (ORS 90.260(6)). Finally, ORS 90.260(7) closes the discount dodge: an increase or decrease in the regularly charged periodic rent imposed because the tenant does or does not pay by a certain date is a late charge. See Oregon late fee laws and serve an Oregon late rent notice before anything formal.

Two written duties, and a set of billing mechanics most leases ignore. ORS 90.315 is long, and the parts that matter to a lease are these.

The benefit disclosure (ORS 90.315(2)). The landlord must disclose in writing at or before the commencement of the tenancy any utility or service the tenant pays directly to a provider that benefits the landlord or other tenants — and the statute defines that for you: it does benefit them if the utility or service is delivered to any area other than the tenant’s dwelling unit. A knowing failure costs the landlord twice the tenant’s actual damages or one month’s rent, whichever is greater.

The billing rules (ORS 90.315(4)). A landlord may require the tenant to pay a utility, service or public service charge billed to the landlord only because a written rental agreement so provides. A charge assessed for a common area must be described separately and distinctly from a charge for the tenant’s own unit. The landlord must bill the tenant in writing within thirty days after receiving the provider’s bill; must state rent and the utility charge separately if both appear on one bill; must explain, in the rental agreement or in the bill, how the provider assesses the charge and how it is allocated among tenants where one provider bill covers several; and must either include a copy of the provider’s bill or state that the tenant may inspect it at a reasonable time and place and obtain a copy on paying the reasonable cost of copying.

The one permitted markup (ORS 90.315(4)(c)). A charge may include only the cost as billed to the landlord — except for cable television, direct satellite or other video subscription services, or internet access or usage, where the landlord may add up to ten percent, provided the total stays below what the tenant would pay contracting directly, and the additional amount is described separately in the rental agreement and listed separately on every bill.

Adding a public service charge (ORS 90.315(4)(d)). Amending an existing month-to-month agreement to require a public service charge adopted within the previous six months takes sixty days‘ written notice, and the landlord may not hold a tenant liable for a public service charge billed to a previous tenant.

A utility charge is neither rent nor a fee (ORS 90.315(4)(e)), so nonpayment is not grounds for a nonpayment termination under ORS 90.394 — but it is grounds for a for-cause termination under ORS 90.392. Non-compliance with the billing rules entitles the tenant to one month’s rent or twice the amount wrongfully charged, whichever is greater.

Shutoffs (ORS 90.315(5) to (8)). Where the tenant is responsible for a utility and cannot get service before moving in because of an unpaid balance left by a previous tenant or the owner, the tenant may pay it and deduct it from rent, agree a resolution, or terminate immediately on actual notice — and the landlord must then return all deposits, rent and fees within four days. The same options, on seventy-two hours‘ notice, apply where service is lost after moving in, and where the landlord was responsible and service is cut off for non-payment; the tenancy does not terminate if service is restored inside those seventy-two hours. Failing to return the money owed entitles the tenant to twice the amount wrongfully withheld.

One more small duty with a large effect: under ORS 90.140(2) a tenant who asks for a writing evidencing a payment is entitled to receive it as a condition of making the payment, and the writing must show the amount, the date and information identifying the landlord or the property.

At least twenty-four hours’ actual notice, at reasonable times — and the tenant may say no. The second half of that sentence lives in the same paragraph as the first and is missing from every ranking page.

ORS 90.322(1)(f) provides that in all cases other than the specific tracks below, and unless the parties agree otherwise about a specific entry, the landlord shall give the tenant at least twenty-four hours’ actual notice of the intent to enter and may enter only at reasonable times — and that the landlord may not enter if the tenant, after receiving the notice, denies consent. The tenant asserts that denial by giving actual notice of it, or by attaching a written denial securely to the main entrance of the part of the premises the tenant exclusively controls, before or at the time of the attempted entry. Give notice with an Oregon notice to enter, and see Oregon landlord entry laws.

The five other tracks (ORS 90.322(1)(a) to (e)):

• Serving notices. The landlord may enter the premises under the tenant’s exclusive control — not including the dwelling unit — without consent and without notice, to serve notices required or permitted by the chapter, the lease or applicable law.
• Emergency. The landlord may enter at any time without consent or notice, “emergency” including a repair problem likely to cause serious damage to the premises unless remedied immediately. But if the emergency entry happens in the tenant’s absence, the landlord must give the tenant actual notice within twenty-four hours afterwards stating the fact of the entry, its date and time, the nature of the emergency and the names of the persons who entered.
• Tenant-requested repairs. Where the tenant requests repairs or maintenance in writing, the landlord may enter on demand without further notice — but the authorisation expires after seven days unless the repairs are in progress and the landlord is making a reasonable effort to finish them. A person other than the landlord must show written evidence of authority on request.
• Showing to a buyer. An agreement permitting entry without notice to show the premises to a prospective purchaser is valid only if it is executed while the landlord is actively engaged in attempts to sell, is set out in a writing separate from the lease signed by both parties, and is supported by separate consideration recited in the agreement.
• Yard maintenance. Where a written agreement requires the landlord to do yard maintenance or grounds keeping, the parties may agree to entry on the premises outside the dwelling unit without notice at reasonable times and with reasonable frequency — and the tenant may deny consent if a particular entry is at an unreasonable time or with unreasonable frequency.

The remedies (ORS 90.322(7) and (8)). If the tenant refuses lawful access the landlord may seek injunctive relief or terminate for cause under ORS 90.392 and recover actual damages. If the landlord makes an unlawful entry, a lawful entry in an unreasonable manner, or repeated otherwise-lawful demands that unreasonably harass the tenant, the tenant may obtain an injunction or terminate under ORS 90.360(1) and may recover actual damages of not less than one week’s rent in a week-to-week tenancy, or one month’s rent in every other case. There is also a separate access rule during a long absence: under ORS 90.410(2) the landlord may enter at reasonable times during any tenant absence exceeding seven days.

For unpaid rent, ten days or thirteen days — the landlord chooses. ORS 90.394(2) gives two tracks for every tenancy other than week-to-week: at least ten days‘ written notice of nonpayment, served no sooner than the eighth day of the rental period counting the first day rent is due; or at least thirteen days‘ written notice, served no sooner than the fifth day. A week-to-week tenancy takes seventy-two hours’ notice served no sooner than the fifth day. Either way the notice must state the amount that must be paid and the date and time by which the tenant must pay to cure. Serve it with an Oregon ten-day notice to pay rent or quit.

Payment mailed within the notice period is timely under ORS 90.394(4) — unless all three of the statutory conditions are met: the notice was served personally, by first class mail and attachment, or by first class mail and electronic mail; the written rental agreement and the notice both state that payment is to be made at a specified location on the premises or where the tenant has always paid in person; and that place is available to the tenant throughout the notice period.

For a lease violation, thirty days with a fourteen-day cure. ORS 90.392 covers a material violation of the rental agreement — expressly including nonpayment of a late charge under ORS 90.260 or of a utility or service charge under ORS 90.315 — a material violation of the tenant duties in ORS 90.325, and failure to pay rent. The notice must specify the acts and omissions, state a termination date not less than thirty days after delivery, and, where the violation can be cured, say so, describe at least one possible remedy and designate the cure date. That cure date must be at least fourteen days after delivery — or, where the violation was a separate and distinct act that is not ongoing, no earlier than the date of delivery. Use an Oregon notice to cure or quit.

The repeat-violation notice (ORS 90.392(5)). Where the cause is substantially the same act or omission that drew a prior ORS 90.392 notice within the previous six months, the termination date must be not less than ten days after delivery and no earlier than the date in the previous notice, and the tenant has no right to cure. The landlord may not use this route if the only violation is failure to pay the current month’s rent. An Oregon unconditional quit notice covers the no-cure case. In a week-to-week tenancy the thirty days becomes seven, the fourteen-day cure becomes four days and the ten-day repeat notice becomes four days (ORS 90.392(6)).

How a notice must be served (ORS 90.155). Personal delivery; first class mail; first class mail and attachment to a designated location, but only where the written agreement provides for that method in both directions and describes the landlord’s designated location with particularity, reasonably located and available at all hours; or electronic mail, but only under a written addendum executed by both parties after the tenancy began and the tenant occupied the premises, specifying each party’s address, allowing either party to withdraw or change the address on at least three days’ notice, and containing the statutory warning headed “THIS IS AN IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING RECEIPT OF WRITTEN NOTICES”. Service by mail extends the minimum period by three days, and the notice must include the extension. A termination notice may go by e-mail only if it also goes by first class mail. The eviction action itself runs under ORS 105.100 to 105.168.

ORS 90.320(1) requires the landlord to maintain the dwelling unit in a habitable condition at all times during the tenancy, and then lists the things whose substantial absence makes it unhabitable: effective waterproofing and weather protection of roof and exterior walls including windows and doors; conforming plumbing in good working order; an approved water supply capable of hot and cold running water, furnished to appropriate fixtures, connected to approved sewage disposal and maintained to provide safe drinking water; adequate heating; conforming electrical lighting and wiring; buildings, grounds and appurtenances safe, clean, sanitary and free of debris, filth, rubbish, garbage, rodents and vermin at the start and in all landlord-controlled areas thereafter; adequate garbage receptacles with removal arranged; floors, walls, ceilings, stairways and railings in good repair; supplied ventilating, air conditioning and other facilities and appliances in good repair; safety from fire hazards including a working smoke alarm with working batteries supplied at the beginning of a new tenancy; a carbon monoxide alarm where the unit contains or connects to a carbon monoxide source; and working locks for all dwelling entrance doors and latches for all windows.

Cooling, since April 1, 2024. ORS 90.320(1)(n) adds that for a dwelling unit in a building for which building permits were issued on or after April 1, 2024, habitability also requires adequate cooling facilities providing cooling in at least one room other than a bathroom, conforming to applicable law at installation and maintained in good working order — central air conditioning, an air-source or ground-source heat pump, or a portable air conditioning device the landlord provides.

Common-area access, since June 5, 2026. Section 6 of chapter 23, Oregon Laws 2026, amended ORS 90.320(1)(m) so habitability now also requires a means of unlocking the dwelling’s locks and of unlocking or otherwise accessing all common areas or common facilities the tenant has access to — an access code, fob, key card or other tangible key — which must include at least one means other than a tenant portal. Codified mirrors still showing the earlier mobile-application wording are out of date. Our Oregon habitability laws guide works through the list.

Shifting work to the tenant (ORS 90.320(2)). The parties may agree in writing that the tenant performs specified repairs, maintenance tasks and minor remodeling only if the agreement is made in good faith and not to evade the landlord’s obligations, does not diminish the landlord’s duties to other tenants, and its terms are clearly and fairly disclosed with adequate consideration specifically stated.

The tenant’s side (ORS 90.325). The tenant must use the premises reasonably; keep tenant-controlled areas clean and free of debris, filth, rubbish, garbage, rodents and vermin so far as the condition of the premises permits and the tenant caused the problem; dispose of waste safely and legally, never putting needles or other infectious waste in garbage receptacles; keep plumbing fixtures clean; test the smoke, smoke-detector and carbon monoxide alarms at least once every six months, replace batteries and report deficiencies in writing; and behave, and require guests to behave, so as not to disturb neighbours’ peaceful enjoyment. The tenant may not tamper with an alarm, deliberately or negligently damage the premises, or remove, obstruct or tamper with a fire-suppression sprinkler head. And the tenant is not responsible for damage resulting from an act of God, or from a perpetrator’s conduct relating to domestic violence, sexual assault, a bias crime or stalking.

Natural disasters, since June 5, 2026. Section 21 of chapter 108, Oregon Laws 2026, added a new section to ORS 90.100 to 90.465. Where a tenancy is affected by a natural disaster as defined in ORS 197A.440, and unless the parties agree otherwise after it: a destroyed dwelling unit terminates the tenancy immediately, with the deposit and prepaid rent returned under ORS 90.300 including rent prorated from the date of the disaster, no cleanup obligation on a tenant who did not cause it, and an opportunity after the emergency abates to return and search for valuables. And — the operative rule for most cases — a tenant does not owe rent while the unit is inaccessible because of the disaster, a unit being inaccessible while a governmental agency has posted it as unsafe or unlawful to occupy.

Ten under state law, plus the federal lead-based paint disclosure. Two of the ten must appear in the rental agreement itself, not merely be handed over.

1. The smoking policy — ORS 90.220(4) and ORS 479.305. The rental agreement must include a disclosure of the smoking policy for the premises, stating whether smoking is prohibited on the premises, allowed on the entire premises, or allowed in limited areas — and, if limited, identifying those areas. The only exception is a facility agreement under ORS 90.505 to 90.850. This is the requirement Oregon leases omit most often.

2. The 100-year flood plain — ORS 90.228. Yes, Oregon does require a flood disclosure, and it too must be in the rental agreement. If the dwelling unit is located in a 100-year flood plain — the level flood waters may be expected to equal or exceed once each hundred years, as determined by the National Flood Insurance Program of FEMA — the landlord shall provide notice in the rental agreement that the unit is within it. Omit it and, if the tenant suffers an uninsured loss due to flooding, the tenant recovers the lesser of the actual damages for that loss or two months’ rent.

3. Manager and owner identification — ORS 90.305. In writing at or before the commencement of the tenancy: the name and address of the person authorized to manage the premises, and the name and address of an owner or a person authorized to act for the owner for service of process and for receiving notices and demands. It must be kept current and binds successors, and a person who manages or signs without complying becomes an agent for service of process.

4. Pending foreclosure, forfeiture or tax lien — ORS 90.310. For premises containing no more than four dwelling units, in writing before the agreement is executed: any outstanding default or trustee’s sale notice, any pending mortgage, trust deed or vendor’s lien foreclosure, any pending forfeiture or specific-performance suit on a contract of sale, and any pending tax lien foreclosure. A tenant who moves because of an undisclosed circumstance recovers twice actual damages or twice the monthly rent, whichever is greater, plus all prepaid rent.

5. A utility the tenant pays that benefits others — ORS 90.315(2). In writing at or before commencement. Twice actual damages or one month’s rent for a knowing failure.

6. How a billed utility charge is assessed and allocated — ORS 90.315(4)(b)(B). In the rental agreement or in the bill, with common-area charges described separately and distinctly.

7. Every fee — ORS 90.302(1). Not a disclosure in name, but a lease-content mandate with teeth: a fee must be described in a written rental agreement, and an undescribed fee cannot be charged.

8. Smoke alarm testing instructions — ORS 479.270(1), plus the hard-of-hearing notice in ORS 479.258. The owner or the owner’s authorized agent must supply, install and maintain the required alarms and give the tenant a written notice containing instructions for testing them at the time the tenant first takes possession. Separately, the landlord must provide notice of the smoke alarm requirements for persons who are hard of hearing in the form the State Fire Marshal prescribes — a duty no ranking page mentions. Under ORS 479.280, a tenant whose landlord has not installed a properly operating alarm within ten days of written notice of the deficiency may complain to the State Fire Marshal or the local fire official, who may issue a citation.

9. Carbon monoxide alarm and testing instructions — ORS 90.316 and ORS 90.317. A landlord may not enter into a rental agreement creating a new tenancy in a dwelling unit that contains a carbon monoxide source, or that connects by a door, ductwork or ventilation shaft to a room that does, unless properly functioning alarms complying with State Fire Marshal rules and the building code are in place when the tenant takes possession. Written testing instructions must be given no later than when the tenant first takes possession (ORS 90.317(2)), and working batteries supplied at the start of a new tenancy.

10. Opportunity to recycle — ORS 90.318. In a city, or the part of a county within a city’s urban growth boundary, that has implemented multifamily recycling service, a landlord with five or more residential dwelling units on a single premises must provide the containers, the collection and a notice at least once a year — and must notify new tenants at the time of entering into the rental agreement.

Federal: lead-based paint — 42 U.S.C. 4852d. Any target housing built before 1978. Our Oregon lead-based paint disclosure form handles it.

Two myths worth killing here. There is no Oregon carbon monoxide alarm “certification” for a lease. That idea is imported from ORS 105.838, which forbids conveying fee title to, or transferring possession under a land sale contract of, a dwelling containing a carbon monoxide source without alarms — and whose remedy under ORS 105.840 belongs to a purchaser or transferee, not a tenant. The same trap sits on the smoke alarm side: ORS 479.260 is also a conveyance provision, not a letting rule; the letting duty is ORS 479.270. Oregon requires no soil-gas, insect-history, asbestos, ordnance-proximity, offender-registry, demolition or prior-drug-manufacture notice in a residential lease — each of those belongs to another state’s statute book. And Oregon requires no interest on a security deposit.

Four, under ORS 90.245(1) — and the penalty for using one knowingly is unusually blunt. A rental agreement may not provide that the tenant:

• Agrees to waive or forgo rights or remedies under ORS chapter 90.
• Authorizes any person to confess judgment on a claim arising out of the rental agreement.
• Agrees to the exculpation or limitation of any liability arising from the other party’s willful misconduct or negligence, or to indemnify the other party for that liability or its costs.
• Agrees to pay liquidated damages, except as ORS 90.302(2)(e) allows for abandonment during a fixed term without cause.

The penalty (ORS 90.245(2)). A prohibited provision included in a rental agreement is unenforceable. And if a landlord deliberately uses a rental agreement containing provisions the landlord knows to be prohibited and attempts to enforce them, the tenant may recover, in addition to actual damages, an amount up to three months’ periodic rent.

Attorney fees are statutory, and they cannot be narrowed. ORS 90.255 provides that in any action on a rental agreement or arising under chapter 90, reasonable attorney fees at trial and on appeal may be awarded to the prevailing party together with costs and necessary disbursements, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, and defines “prevailing party” as the party in whose favour final judgment is rendered. So the entitlement comes from the statute, not from the lease. A clause awarding fees to the landlord alone is ineffective under ORS 90.255 and a prohibited waiver of the tenant’s rights under ORS 90.245(1)(a). The optional fee clause in the form above generates the reciprocal, prevailing-party version only — which is declaratory rather than operative, and that is the honest way to draft it.

What Oregon expressly allows. ORS 90.220(5) provides that notwithstanding ORS 90.245(1), the parties may include a provision for informal dispute resolution. But ORS 90.100 defines that term to mean voluntary consultation between the landlord or the landlord’s agent and one or more tenants, or voluntary mediation using a third party — and expressly not mandatory mediation or arbitration. A clause compelling arbitration of a chapter 90 dispute therefore does not shelter under this permission.

Retaliation in Oregon is ORS 90.385. This deserves saying plainly because a number of secondary sources, including citation lists that look authoritative, point to ORS 90.449 instead — and ORS 90.449 is something else entirely, as the next section explains.

Under ORS 90.385(1) a landlord may not retaliate by increasing rent, decreasing services, serving a notice to terminate the tenancy, or bringing or threatening to bring an action for possession after the tenant has: complained, or expressed in writing an intention to complain, to a governmental agency about a building, health or housing code materially affecting health or safety, about laws concerning the delivery of mail, or about laws prohibiting discrimination in rental housing; made any good-faith complaint to the landlord concerning the tenancy; organized or become a member of a tenants’ union or similar organization; testified against the landlord in a judicial, administrative or legislative proceeding; successfully defended an action for possession within the previous six months, except where the tenant won only because the notice was mis-served or gave too short a period; used, or intends or attempts to use, the dwelling as a family child care home in compliance with ORS 90.358; or performed or expressed an intention to perform any other act asserting, protecting or invoking a tenant right under federal, state or local law.

“Decreasing services” is defined in ORS 90.385(2) to include unreasonably restricting the availability of, or placing unreasonable burdens on, tenants’ use of common areas or facilities to meet and establish a tenant organization — and intentionally and unreasonably interfering with and substantially impairing the tenant’s enjoyment or use of the premises.

The remedies and the carve-outs. A tenant facing retaliation gets the remedies in ORS 90.375 and a defence in any retaliatory possession action (ORS 90.385(3)). But ORS 90.385(4) lets the landlord proceed anyway in four situations: the complaint was made in an unreasonable manner or at an unreasonable time, or repeated so as to unreasonably harass the landlord; the code violation was caused primarily by the tenant’s own lack of reasonable care; the tenant was in default in rent when the notice was served — though a tenant who paid rent into court under ORS 90.370 is not in default; or compliance with the code requires alteration, remodeling or demolition that would effectively deprive the tenant of the unit.

Oregon runs four separate sections here, and the ranking pages typically mention one of them as a bare “fourteen-day notice”.

Anti-discrimination — ORS 90.449. Its own title is “Landlord discrimination against victim”. A landlord may not terminate or fail to renew, serve a termination notice, bring or threaten a possession action, increase rent, decrease services or refuse to enter into a rental agreement because a tenant or applicant is or has been a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, a bias crime or stalking; because of a violation consisting of such an incident committed against them; or because of criminal activity or a police or emergency response in which they were the victim. Nor may different rules be imposed or selectively enforced on that basis. The remedy is up to two months’ periodic rent or twice actual damages, whichever is greater, plus a defence to possession — and, for an applicant, injunctive relief to gain possession. The landlord may still terminate where a written warning about the perpetrator’s conduct was given and the tenant consents to the perpetrator’s presence when that person is an actual and imminent threat to others, or lets the perpetrator live in the unit as an unauthorized occupant.

Release from the tenancy — ORS 90.453. On at least fourteen days’ written notice requesting it, the landlord shall release the victim — and any immediate family member named in the notice — from the rental agreement. The notice must specify the release date, list the family members, and be accompanied by verification: a valid protective order, a police report, a conviction, or the qualified third party verification statement the section sets out almost word for word, signed by the tenant and by a law enforcement officer, attorney, licensed health professional, Department of Justice victim services employee or victim services provider advocate. The tenant must be protected by a valid order or have been victimised within the preceding ninety days, not counting periods when the perpetrator was incarcerated or living more than a hundred miles away. A released tenant is not liable for rent or damage after the release date and is not subject to any fee solely because of the termination — which is why ORS 90.302(2)(e) expressly bars the fixed-term abandonment fee in this case. The landlord may not disclose the information provided except with written consent, for an eviction proceeding, to a qualified third party, or as required by law.

The tenancy continues for everyone else — ORS 90.456. Where a victim and immediate family are released, or a perpetrator is excluded under ORS 90.459 or ORS 105.128, the tenancy continues for any remaining tenants, and the deposits are applied, accounted for or refunded under ORS 90.300 and ORS 90.302 only when their tenancy ends and possession is delivered.

Lock changes — ORS 90.459. A tenant may give actual notice that the tenant is a victim and request a lock change, and no verification is required to start it. The landlord must promptly change the locks at the tenant’s expense or permit the tenant to do so; if the landlord does not act, the tenant may change them and must give the landlord a key. Where the perpetrator is a co-tenant, the tenant must first supply a court order requiring the perpetrator to move out — after which the landlord owes the perpetrator no access, the perpetrator stays jointly liable for rent and damage up to the exclusion date, the perpetrator’s tenancy terminates by operation of law when the order becomes final, and the landlord may not charge additional rent, deposit or fee because of the exclusion.

Three acts took effect on June 5, 2026, and none of them is in the codified section text yet. The Oregon Legislature publishes the ORS biennially; the chapter 90 pages currently carry the 2025 Edition under a banner noting that the 2026 regular session amended the chapter. The banner is not the text, so the enrolled acts are the law.

One more change landed earlier in the year, on January 1, 2026, and it is a 2025 act — which is exactly why it is so easily missed. Chapter 115, Oregon Laws 2025 (House Bill 2134), approved on May 22, 2025 and effective January 1, 2026, added an unnumbered section to ORS 90.100 to 90.465 giving a fixed-term tenant a right to answer a qualifying-landlord-reason termination with the tenant’s own thirty-day notice, ending the tenancy inside the fixed term, free of the ORS 90.302(2)(e) early-termination fee and of rent accruing afterwards. It applies only to fixed term rental agreements entered into on or after January 1, 2026. The mechanics are set out in the qualifying-landlord-reason section above.

Chapter 23, Oregon Laws 2026 (Senate Bill 1523) is the substantial one. Two new sections were added to chapter 90.

• The right to pay by check. A landlord shall allow a tenant to make payments by check or other commercially reasonable methods; may not require payment by debit card, credit card, electronic check, tenant portal or any other form of electronic payment; and may not charge a late fee or terminate a tenancy for nonpayment if the landlord refused a payment the tenant offered by a permitted method.
• Tenant portal duties. A landlord who uses a tenant portal to accept applications must post a printable copy of the application on the landlord’s website or supply one within seven days of a written request, must process all applications whether or not they came through the portal, and, where an applicant or tenant asks in writing, may not require the portal as the sole means to verify identification, to review and sign addenda or other legal agreements, or to submit documents relating to the tenancy. Damages are the greater of actual damages or one hundred dollars.
• Two amendments. ORS 90.302(7)(d) now governs pass-through of processing fees for card, portal and other electronic payments, on the three conditions set out in the fee section above. ORS 90.320(1)(m) now requires common-area access to include at least one means other than a tenant portal.
• The act also added a definition of “tenant portal” to ORS 90.100: any electronic application, software, website or digital platform provided by or for a landlord that a tenant, applicant or prospective applicant uses in connection with applying for, establishing, maintaining or terminating a tenancy — but not e-mail or text message with the landlord.

Chapter 61, Oregon Laws 2026 (House Bill 4123) added a confidentiality duty. A landlord may not disclose the confidential information of a tenant, former tenant or applicant, or of a member of their household — a defined list covering date of birth, government identification numbers, phone number, e-mail address, banking information, tax returns, income sources, employer details, immigration or citizenship status or protected-class membership under ORS 659A.425, records relating to the assertion of rights under ORS 90.325(3)(b), 90.449, 90.453 or 90.459 or the federal Violence Against Women Act, and medical or disability records. Seven exceptions apply, including separate written consent, a court order or judicial warrant or subpoena but not an administrative one, screening checks, a reference request from a potential landlord, and use in an insurance claim, collection matter or court action. A knowing violation lets the individual recover twice the monthly rent.

Chapter 108, Oregon Laws 2026 (House Bill 4037) added the natural-disaster rules described in the habitability section above.

And one that is enacted but not yet in force. Chapter 60, Oregon Laws 2026 (House Bill 4120) was approved on March 31, 2026 but does not take effect until January 1, 2027. It adds a definition of “smoking” to ORS 479.305 and amends ORS 90.262 so that a landlord may amend a smoking policy to prohibit smoking inside dwelling units or interior common areas without tenant consent — but only where the unit shares a wall or sits in a development under ORS 94.504 to 94.528, is not an accessible unit, the change does not reach a fixed term until it ends, the landlord designates and posts an outdoor smoking area, and the landlord gives at least one hundred eighty days‘ written notice. It is not law today, and a lease should not be drafted as though it were.

• Printing a rent-cap percentage in the lease. ORS 90.324 makes it a published figure that changes every year; state the mechanism and the publisher instead.
• Quoting only “seven percent plus CPI”. The maximum is the lesser of ten percent or seven plus CPI, and the ten percent ceiling has been the operative one.
• Assuming a thirty-day no-cause notice always works. After the first year of occupancy ORS 90.427(3)(c) removes it entirely.
• Forgetting the relocation payment. One month’s rent, paid at the time the notice is delivered, unless the landlord holds four or fewer residential dwelling units.
• Charging a fee that is not written into the lease. ORS 90.302(1) makes it unchargeable, and ORS 90.302(8) makes it expensive.
• Taking a move-in fee for an anticipated expense. Expressly banned by ORS 90.302(1).
• Applying a payment to fees before rent. ORS 90.220(9)(a) fixes the order notwithstanding anything in the lease.
• Charging a late fee on day two. Nothing is available before the fourth day of the rental period.
• Deducting an old late charge from this month’s rent. ORS 90.260(4) forbids it, and doing it manufactures a false nonpayment.
• Deducting carpet cleaning without the lease clause. All three ORS 90.300(7)(c)(A) conditions must be met, and one of them is a term of the written agreement.
• Treating the 31 days as one duty. The written accounting and the refund are separate obligations under ORS 90.300(12) and (13).
• Raising the deposit in the first year. Barred by ORS 90.300(5)(a), and after the first year the tenant gets three months to pay.
• Taking a pet deposit for an assistance animal. ORS 90.300(4) forbids it.
• Leaving out the smoking policy. ORS 90.220(4) makes it a required term of the rental agreement.
• Leaving out the flood plain notice. ORS 90.228 requires it in the agreement itself where the unit is in a 100-year flood plain.
• Naming only one contact. ORS 90.305(1) needs the manager and an owner or agent for service of process.
• Entering after giving twenty-four hours’ notice when the tenant has said no. ORS 90.322(1)(f) makes the denial effective.
• Serving a seventy-two-hour nonpayment notice on a monthly tenancy. The tracks are ten days or thirteen days under ORS 90.394(2).
• Writing a landlord-only attorney fee clause. ORS 90.255 overrides it and ORS 90.245(1)(a) voids it.
• Requiring rent to be paid through a portal. Prohibited since June 5, 2026 by chapter 23, Oregon Laws 2026.

A well-drafted lease decides who wins a dispute; screening decides whether there is one. Oregon raises the stakes at both ends. Ending a tenancy after the first year needs a statutory reason and often a month’s rent handed back, and the penalties for getting the paperwork wrong run to three months’ rent on a bad termination or a rent increase, twice the amount on a mishandled deposit, and twice actual damages or three hundred dollars on an unlawful fee. Oregon also regulates the screening stage itself more tightly than most states: ORS 90.295 limits the screening charge to one in any sixty-day period and requires nine written notices before it is taken; ORS 90.303 puts old or dismissed eviction actions, most arrests, marijuana convictions, medical marijuana status and immigration or citizenship status out of bounds; and ORS 90.304 requires a written statement of reasons within fourteen days of a denial, with an individualised assessment before any criminal-history refusal. Verifiable income, a clean payment history and no prior eviction filings remain the strongest predictors of a quiet tenancy. Our tenant screening report covers credit, eviction filings, criminal background and employment verification, and our Oregon tenant screening laws guide covers what the state lets you consider. Screen first, then paper the tenancy with this lease.

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